Bills take AFC East, pull curtain down on Dolphins, 2023 regular season
Deonte Harty returned a punt 96 yards for a score, and Josh Allen hit Dawson Knox with a go-ahead touchdown pass to highlight a Bills fourth-quarter comeback and beat Miami, 21-14, winning the AFC East in the process.
Winners of five straight games, the Bills, the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs, host the Steelers on Sunday, January 14. By losing, the Dolphins plummet to the sixth seed and must travel to Kansas City to take on the defending Super Bowl champs this Saturday, January 13.
Following Knox’ TD catch, Miami put together one final drive to try to tie the game. But Bills safety Taylor Rapp snuffed out that hope with a diving interception of a Tua Tagovailoa pass at the Bills’ 22-yard line with 1:17 left.
With all that was at stake in this game, the two offenses did not look playoff ready or title worthy at the start. Tagovailoa and Allen traded interceptions on their opening drives. Allen seemed intent on handing over the division championship to Miami as if it were a trigger clause in his contract. On Buffalo’s next possession, he threw his second interception, picked off by Miami's DeShon Elliott in the end zone.
Miami then drove 80 yards to break the seal on the scoring, the key play a 23-yard pass from Tua to Tyreek Hill to convert a 3rd-and-14. Rookie back De’Von Achane gave Miami a 7-0 lead on a 25-yard TD run early in the second quarter.
Allen bounces back, the Cheetah pounces
Allen recovered enough from his two early turnovers to lead the Bills on a game-tying drive, hitting WR Stefon Diggs on a 36-yard strike that moved Buffalo inside Miami’s 10. Two plays later, the Bills tied the game on one of the wackier plays of the season. Receiver Trent Sherfield caught a six-yard TD pass after a Dolphin defensive lineman batted the throw at the line of the scrimmage. The ball ricocheted high in the air towards the back of the end zone where Trentfield snared it while dragging his feet in bounds.
The Dolphins responded just before halftime, with Tua hooking up with Hill on 3rd-and-short from the 3-yard line. It was Hill’s 13th TD catch of the campaign. His 82 yards on the night gave him 1,799 on the season — short of his quest to top Calvin Johnson’s record for yards in a season. But, if his cartwheel into a backflip following the touchdown is any sign, Hill appears recovered from the knee issue that hampered him in December. Good news for the Dolphins heading into the playoffs.
His team trailing 14-7 in the third quarter, Allen’s turnover bugaboo appeared once again. Miami’s Christian Wilkins stripped-sacked the Buffalo QB at the Dolphins 28-yard line on third down to deny the Bills a field goal opportunity.
Still trailing 14-7 at the start of the fourth, the game turned on Harty’s lightening-strike of a punt return. After the Buffalo’s defense forced a three-and-out, its offense took over at its own 26 with just over 12 minutes left.
As has long been the case with Allen, you have to take the head-scratching bad with the fist-pumping good. The turnovers notwithstanding, the big QB played brilliantly, finishing the night 30-of-38 for 359 yards along with the scoring passes to Sherfield and Knox.
On the game-winning touchdown drive, Allen was especially terrific. The Bills faced third down just once, which Allen converted with a five-yard run. (Allen also led the Bills in rushing with 67 yards). Passes of 26 yards to rookie TE Dalton Kincaid and 28 yards to WR Khalil Shakir put the ball inside the Dolphins 5-yard line. On 2nd-and-goal, Allen found his other tight end, Knox, in the end zone for the go-ahead score. Shakir led the Bills with 105 receiving yards.
Buffalo, Miami heading in different directions
The Bills coming from nowhere to nab both the East title and second seed is a remarkable feat. Remember, this was a team that, during the season, lost a Pro Bowl player to injury at each level of its defense. At 6-6, with a sputtering offense that led to the dismissal of OC Ken Dorsey, the team looked in disarray and was teetering. Now the Bills are rolling and host a playoff game against a flawed Steelers team that will likely be missing its best player, T.J. Watt.
Of the "holey" trinity of teams — Miami, Philadelphia, Jacksonville — that once held commanding division leads but are now either wild card entrants or missing the playoffs altogether, the Dolphins and their slide are certainly the least alarming. Nonetheless, this current Miami team looks little like the juggernaut that registered points like a pinball machine in the opening weeks of the season. No one envies going on the road to play Kansas City, no matter how funky and unreliable the Chiefs' offense is now playing. Still, the chance for some offensive fireworks hangs in the air, and the matchup of Hill, a former Chiefs star, and the Dolphins offense going against Chris Jones and the powerful Kansas City defense should be riveting.